Rustnstuff: 06/19

Sunday, June 30, 2019

Books, compassion exhibition and bones

Fiona and I went to the official opening of the Compassion Artists' Book Exhibition yesterday afternoon - there was a good crowd to honour the work of the 26 artists. Ken and Ardleigh, in the photo below, had done a massive job to bring it all together. Big thank you to Ken and Ardleigh. The exhibition is open for a few weeks so a good opportunity to get along.

I had 6 pairs small book earrings; and 12 small metal books in the exhibition 'shop'. The earrings all sold out in a couple of hours as did a few small metal books. I was asked by Ardleigh and a number of attendees whether I would be willing to make more earrings.

I started the process of making up to ten pair today as you can see from the opening photo and the process photos below.

Still a lot of work to do on the earrings; but hopefully I will finish them by or on the next weekend.

Since I was in preparation mode I decided to clean and cut more bone: some for carving and some for pendants and earrings. As you can see I managed a reasonable assortment. Bit of a warning about sawing and sanding bone - always best to be done in the open and with a good quality mask on. Bone dust is not so good for the lungs.

Now that I have the pages for the books and the bone cut there is no excuse for me not grabbing bits of time to make the pieces.

Friday, June 28, 2019

Checking out Compassion - the artists' book exhibition

Compassion Artists' Book Exhibition officially opens at 3pm tomorrow afternoon (Saturday 29 June). Fiona and I will be there for the official opening; but because we were down the coast for an appointment we took the opportunity to have a peek whilst the exhibition was in its final set-up stage. The gallery was open.

It is quite amazing just how many works are on show - but given the number of artists I guess it is to be expected.

Fiona and I were able to check out our pieces. A few images of mine and our collaborative books follow.

I think there will be quite a buzz at the opening tomorrow.

Wednesday, June 26, 2019

A wet Wednesday and dark light study of our tree

There was no walking to be done this morning - not on the block or Treehaven Way. We suddenly found ourselves in another wet patch - 75mm over night and still raining this morning.

I did manage to capture a couple of images between showers as I went about tasks.

I found the following images on my iPhone from Monday - beautiful images of the leafless tree at the top of our drive - in its dark glory; but also lit bay a car driving down our road and by the lights of our car as Fiona headed up the drive off to her exercise group.

A few fragments; but all part of the changes that are seasons and the weather.

Sunday, June 23, 2019

Progressing product and giveaway draw

I managed to get back on track with silver-plated product production over the weekend. As you can see from the photo above I managed to get 15 items to the ground and wire brush polished stage. Now I need to do the final polish before adding swing tags and sending them off to Maleny Additions.

A few process photos follow.

I also committed to drawing the recipient of the giveaway today. I did it the old fashioned way - put 9 names in a bowl and draw out the winner - and the winner is Bridgette - so a set of Daily Leaf Words will be packed and sent to her in the next couple of days.

Thanks to all the who checked out the post on ten years of blogging. Thanks also to people who still visit and leave comments - that takes time in this click and swipe age - so the effort and support is appreciated.

Friday, June 21, 2019

The metal dictated the final design

I really was meant to be working on product today; but got sidetracked by rust. I have quite a stash of rusted circular saw blades which I had planned to turn into a large sculptural piece about the sun. I knew I would only get about 4 hours in the studio-garage today so I decided to indulge myself and make a piece using a rusty saw blade. The metal in the blade was so hard, which makes sense, that I burnt out and broke several bits before giving up. I also tested drilling the rim of steel I was going to use as the outside of the piece - 'hard as' - so more broken bits.

I decided to use an old copper perforated circle from a vintage shower head; and to suspend it in the circle using stainless steel wire.

Process photos follow.

And the finished piece.

As one does I decided to use the last cap from an old gas hob and turn it into one of my stapled pieces. It turned out that this metal was as hard as and resulted in broken bits lodged in the metal.

But I persisted and managed to make another small stitched piece on hairy oak.

Frustration as the start of the day; but satisfaction at the end.

Wednesday, June 19, 2019

The moon and the mountains

Some of the photos of the moon in this post are not a crisp as I have done on the past. The reason being is that my old Canon PowerShot failed because an internal date stamp battery went flat and can old be replaced by a technician pulling the camera apart and putting in a new battery. A costly exercise so we decided to buy a later model PowerShot - but is is not up to the standard of the old one - makes one a little sad.

First I'll share moon and mountain photos taken with the iPhone; and then the Canon photos.